Giovanni-Battista Camuccini, 'A Fallen Tree Trunk', about 1850
About the work
Overview
Camuccini's study of a fallen tree trunk is an example of the sort of study encouraged by the artist Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes, a central figure in the development of the landscape oil sketch. Valenciennes encouraged artists to make oil studies of trees, focusing on their barks and all the other irregularities that characterised them. In this study, the massive, twisted trunk, with moss dappling the bark on its curving, broken branches, has fallen somewhere in the countryside; decay is well advanced as it is slowly absorbed back into the earth.
This sketch comes from the bundle of oil sketches on paper recently found at the Camuccini family villa at Cantalupo in Italy.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Fallen Tree Trunk
- Artist
- Giovanni-Battista Camuccini
- Artist dates
- 1819 - 1904
- Date made
- about 1850
- Medium and support
- Oil on paper laid on board
- Dimensions
- 25.8 × 42 cm
- Acquisition credit
- The Gere Collection, on long-term loan to the National Gallery
- Inventory number
- L806
- Location
- Not on display
- Image copyright
- The Gere Collection, on long-term loan to the National Gallery, © Private collection 2000. Used by permission
- Collection
- Main Collection
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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